Loaner Kits

Texas Memorial Museum has a variety of loaner kits available for educators to borrow at no cost. Educators interested in borrowing a kit must have attended a TMM-sponsored teacher workshop and/or have visited TMM with their students within the last 5 years. Loans are for a maximum of two weeks. Borrowers are responsible for the cost of repair or replacement of kit materials damaged or lost during the loan period.

Available kits include:

Burgess Shale Replicas:
The collection of scientifically accurate models, based on the half-billion-year-old fossils of the Burgess Shale, includes five organisms that lived on the sea floor: Pikaia gracilens, Laggania cambria, Olenoides serratus, Opabinia regalis, and Wiwaxia corrugate.

Carnivoran Skulls:
Includes dichotomous key and a set of the following skulls: bobcat, coyote, gray fox, striped skunk, ringtail, American badger, mink, American black bear, and northern raccoon.

Cat Skeleton:
Complete disarticulated skeleton of a domestic cat.

Chicken Skeleton:
Complete mounted and articulated skeleton of a chicken.

Dinosaur Trackway Mats:
Reproduction of our Paluxy River dinosaur trackway pattern on a set of yoga mats, approximately 25 feet long and 11 feet wide. Kit includes 4 metric tape measures.

DNA-RNA Protein Synthesis Kit:
Students use plastic, color-coded components to build a DNA molecule, replicate it, and use half of the “ladder” to build messenger RNA. Contains enough materials for 24 students working in pairs.

Paluxy River Theropod Track Replicas:
Set of 4 different theropod plaster track casts. Kit includes a track from a small individual, a metatarsal (heel and sole of foot impression), and a track with mud-collapsed toe prints.

Predator Skulls:
A set of 4 coyote and 4 bobcat skulls for predator “bite” analysis.

Sauropod and Theropod Dinosaur Replicas:
Set of 10 plastic replicas of each, representing Paluxysaurus and Acrocanthosaurus. For use in track-making activities and as models in art projects.

Small Mammal Skulls of Texas:
Students use a dichotomous key to identify the skulls of six small mammals commonly found in Texas. Skulls in the kit include armadillo, bobcat, raccoon, porcupine, coyote and opossum.